Catching Up!
Idle Hour Golf Course Maintenance
Wow, I was surprised to see my last post was nearly three weeks ago. My apologies for being away, but I hope you have managed to keep up with my updates in the Friday club emails. If not I’ve got you covered so let’s get started.
The team had a productive Maintenance Monday back on April 1 mowing fairways and rough, hand mowing all green surrounds and bunker slopes. Greens were treated with liquid fertilizer, and we began spot aerification in the rough concentrating on areas of high golf car traffic. Those areas were treated with a mixture of granular wetting agent, organic fertilizer, and seed to aid recovery.
Tuesday, April 2 was a day to remember as severe weather and numerous tornadoes touched down around the Lexington area. Despite the damage in and around the city, we were very fortunate on the golf course to only incur damage to three large pines which the team quickly cut up and removed. The subsequent rain amounted to just over two inches which did hamper our ability to mow Tuesday and Wednesday leading to some challenging rough the first weekend of the Keeneland Spring Meet.
Somehow with all that going on we managed to make time (tic) for the installation of the new clock just outside the golf shop on Wednesday and new cups, white flags, and white flagsticks were installed on the golf course to signify the arrival of the golfing season. New yellow flags now adorn the practice range.
Last week Mother Nature made her presence known again. After spending all of Monday and Tuesday getting caught up on mowing, rain moved into the region and when it finally stopped we had once again received nearly two inches. My apologies for falling behind on the rough again as I believe the second weekend of the Keeneland Spring Meet was more difficult and demanding than the first. I heard one report of a guest losing a ball but finding three others nearby! Despite the rumors, I do not receive a percentage of golf ball sales in Pete’s shop. ;) At least we did open the new practice tee.
Yesterday, April 15 saw the warmest day of 2024 (84 degrees) and the team was busy mowing grass till late in the day. We made applications to our fairways and rough to prevent crabgrass germination as well as protect against insect pests. Today we are making a plant protectant application to fairways to guard against a fungal outbreak with the unseasonably warm, humid conditions.
And, if you were not aware, all the new John Deere equipment fleet is now on site, and we are using the new pedestrian mowers on the putting greens. We anticipate we may encounter a hiccup or two during the break-in period, but better to get that out of the way now than when we are in peak season.
Next up for us is more mowing and continuing to catch up on planned applications. This is the time of year to lay the foundation for our success in the months ahead.
Thanks for reading, and happy golfing!
